Canning, Jamming, Crafting & Cooking…always up to something

Spring Gardening

April 28, 2011

Over the past few weekends, Mr. Latenightjam and I have been getting the garden ready for spring. We’ve turned over our green manure (winter rye planted last fall), added compost to the soils, installed an irrigation system (happy birthday to me!), and planted our spring crop.

Spring Awakening! ps- don't go see that musical with your mother, like I did...

This year we are cutting back on variety and going for quantity! In the containers in the photo, you will see some herbs (lavender, basil and oregano), garlic (planted last fall), leeks (ditto), and tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes! There are more herbs and some peas that we started that aren’t shown in the photo. Over the past few seasons, we have realized that with limited space, herbs and tomatoes are the best bang for your buck. Herbs because you don’t need much, and it is way cheaper to keep picking what you need all summer that buying fresh herbs at the grocery store. Tomatoes because in my opinion, you can never have enough fresh summer tomatoes from the garden. Ever. I am hoping that the garlic pays off with enough heads to justify one container. Their low volume needed per recipe (versus, say, carrots- I do use a ton of garlic when I cook, but it is still small in size) may make them worthwhile in a similar way as herbs.

Stay tuned for more updates and photos as all of these little babies grow up!

Editor’s note: Yes, I do call them babies, as in “Oh, my babies are growing so fast” or “I can’t go out tonight, I need to take care of my babies”. Maybe I should get a dog…